How I’m voting for the environment on Feb. 5, 2008
My vote on Prop 92: No
I’m all for community colleges, but this measure seems more like a power play than an effort to improve community colleges.
Right now, the state has to allocate a minimum of about 40% of its budget to K-14 (K-12 plus community college) education. Prop 92 would separate out the funding for community colleges from that for K-12 schools, creating minimum funding requirements for both. Community colleges would also get a bigger state governing board and more administrative authority.
The downside to splitting up the funding: Less flexibility as to how educational funds get spent, at a time when our demographics are shifting. Add to the the fact that the funding community colleges receive wouldn’t be tied to actual student enrollment, and this inflexibility starts sounding really bad. If Prop 92 passes, funding allocated for community colleges couldn’t be used for K-12 education even if enrollment at the former decreased and the latter increased.
The measure would also lower the community college education fees from $20 per unit to $15 per unit — and make it really difficult for the state to raise these fees again. While that sounds like it’ll make education more affordable for the less wealthy, people with financial need are already able to get fee waivers. In fact, about quarter of community college students already don’t pay any educational fees, according to the legislative analyst report in the voter’s guide. The LA Times notes that “In one recent year, 52% of community college students got fee waivers.” I’m voting no.
February 4th, 2008 at 3:34 am
When I was teaching community college, before the last fee reduction, it was already the case that students were paying more for textbooks than for the class itself. It’s also worth noting that we already have some of the cheapest community college rates in the country (and did even before the last reduction).
It is nice to have some sense of why the CTA is opposed to the prop (I meant to google it myself, but never got around to it).
February 4th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
I’m not actively involved in the campaign for prop 92 myself, but one of the things that my dad (who, disclaimer, is a community college esl teacher and has been pouring every moment of his time to fighting for this) has mentioned to me about capping the fees is that community colleges, and their students, are incredibly vulnerable to steep fee hikes: in 2004, when the fees jumped from $13 a unit to $26 (i think–or $24…), their enrollment decreased by 300,000 students. if i understand the situation correctly, not being subject to this kind of financial uncertainty is part of the impetus to capping the fees.
February 5th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Again, students with financial need can get fee waivers. If there was indeed a 300,000 student drop due to a $11-13 per unit fee raise (and BTW, this figure isn’t mentioned in any of the newspaper editorials I read — only in the pro Prop 92 people’s materials), it seems to me that the problem might have more to do with the need to get the word out about the fact that those in financial need CAN get fee waivers.
Another issue might be that perhaps people who are taking community college courses to pursue hobbies — i.e. I took guitar classes as SMC for a semester, but this did not have anything to do with my future career interests; it was just for fun — might be less inclined to shell out more money to pursue said hobbies if rates go up. But this, again, is not something that hurts students who’re actually trying to pursue an overall college education with the help of CCs — whether it’s going for an AA or for a transfer to the UC or Cal State systems for a college degree.